USPS inks second deal with Compaq

The Postal Service signed a five-year, $1 billion IT contract for products and services with Compaq Computer Corp., with an option to extend that into a 10-year, $2 billion contract.

The contract, ADEPT2, is a replacement for the first ADEPT contract issued in 1994. The Postal Service bought more than $1.2 billion worth of products and services under the first ADEPT deal, including about 32,000 servers, 180,000 desktop PCs and 50,000 notebook PCs.

Compaq said the Postal Service would make more use of the services portion of the contract this time. ADEPT2 is more of an end-to-end support contract, said Lynn Martin, Compaq's account manager for Postal Service contracts.

USPS must replace 130,000 desktops in the next two to three years, she said.

Under ADEPT2 USPS procurement officers are required to buy from Compaq.

'If you work in the Postal Service, you're going to buy it off this,' Martin said.